Real estate developers have a strong impact on the shape of our cities and region. Urban Ecology created this portfolio to link developers with cities and community organizations that seek to build more sustainable projects. Each firm is included because at least one of their projects meets two or more of the criteria that we use for endorsement: good location, mixed-use, transportation choice, housing choice, ecological design and pedestrian design. We do not necessarily support every project that the developers in this portfolio have created, or every aspect of the projects profiled, but we believe these firms are engaged in positive endeavors and we encourage their efforts.

Urban Ecology works to build cities that are ecologically thriving and socially just. Developers play a critical role in shaping the Bay Area, and we support development projects that further our vision of a sustainable region. In particular, we encourage “infill”...

777 North First Street, 5th Floor San Jose, CA 95112 408.977.9050 Barry Swenson Artists in Residence Barry Swenson Builder created San Jose’s first live/work project. In the mid-1980s, a decade before the city established its live/work policies, Barry Swenson...

1068 East Meadow Circle Palo Alto, CA 94303 650.496.4496 Scott Ward Classic Communities, Inc., headquartered in Palo Alto, is one of the Bay Area’s leading specialty homebuilding companies. Since its founding in 1992, the company has established a track record...

255 North Market Street, Suite 290 San Jose, CA 95110 408.279.7654 Ron Morgan The Grove Community Housing Developers, Inc. is a private, tax-exempt, non-profit housing provider. Since incorporation in 1979 by a broad-based coalition of local community groups, church...

99 North 1st Street, Suite 101 San Jose, CA 95113 408.292.7841 Fax: 408.292.0339 Martha Putnam, mputnam@coredevelopmentinc.com David Neale and Core Development Inc have pioneered both affordable and market rate infill housing in San Jose since the late 1970’s,...

310 8th Street, Suite 200 Oakland, CA 94607 510.287.5353 Lynette Lee Hsimen Hin-nu Terrace East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation is a community development corporation that has been dedicated, for nearly 25 years, to the betterment of the East Bay community....

409 Jackson Street Hayward, CA 94544 510.582.1460 Linda Mandolini Ohlone-Chynoweth Commons Eden Housing has been developing affordable housing in the East Bay since 1968. More than 30 years later, they have developed nearly 4,000 units of affordable housing throughout...

501 Second Street, Suite 212 San Francisco, CA 94107 415.777.2914 Fax: 415.777.1317 Oz Erickson 530 Chestnut St. The Emerald Fund’s infill projects are concentrated in San Francisco and most include both housing and retail space. At 530 Chestnut Street in the...

2 North Second Street San Jose, CA 95113 408.291.8650 Fax: 408.993.9098 Thomas Iamesi FCH was founded in 1986 by David Neale and John Brezzo, both successful developers in San Jose, and since that time has developed housing for 436 households, with another 368 units...

785 Market Street, 14th Floor San Francisco, CA 94103 415.836.5980 Susan Smartt San Fernando Apartments Forest City Development is the local branch of parent company Forest City Enterprises, Inc. Founded more than 80 years ago and headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio,...

1500 Park Avenue, Suite 200 Emeryville, CA 94608 510.547.2122 Kevin Wakelin, Kevin@hollidaydevelopment.com The Marquee Holliday Development is a real estate development company specializing in the rehabilitation of former industrial buildings into mixed use, live-work...

2310 Mason Street San Francisco, CA 94133 415.391.4321 Fax: 415.296.7579 Therese Milestone, tmilestone@jsco.net The John Stewart Company (JSCo.) develops, owns, and manages both affordable and market-rate properties in the Bay Area and throughout California....

173 Filbert St. Oakland, CA 94607 510.839.7200 Thomas Dolan The Phoenix Lofts Thomas Dolan is an architect, development consultant, and developer who has pioneered a new infill building type: the live/work courtyard community built from the ground up (historically,...

3020 Old Ranch Parkway, Suite 400 Seal Beach, CA 90740 562.596.4770 Fax: 562.596.4703 Heather Hayes, hhayes@theolsonco.com The Olson Company was founded in 1988 with the goal of working with cities to create high quality for-sale housing in established communities...

PO Box 8756 Emeryville, CA 94662 510.655.2319 Kathryn Porter, kathrynporter@cs.com Kathryn Porter lives in an infill development in Oakland and through her design and development firm, Premises Company, has overseen the construction of projects in Oakland and...

100 Bush Street, 26th Floor San Francisco, CA 94104 415.772.5900 Fax: 415.772.5911 Todd Wright Emery Bay The Martin Group has been highly active in real estate in the Bay Area for 17 years, developing more than 8 million square feet of diversified property, including...

1834 Fourth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710 510.644.3002 Denny Abrams Fourth Street, Berkeley Abrams/Millikan is a design/build development firm that has been developing Berkeley’s Fourth Street Center for over twenty years. Stretching along two blocks on both sides...